Wednesday, February 15, 2017
How many times have you heard some elderly couple, when asked for the secret to their long marriage, reply that they never go to bed angry? Whether they know it or not, that word of advice first came from the bible. Paul wrote: “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” (Ephesians 4:26) I bet some of you know people whose marriage or relationships have been destroyed because they had an anger management problem. In fact, I would not be surprised if more than one or two of you will readily admit that you have that problem too.
I generally look for ways to encourage and uplift our readers by way of these blogs. Today, however, upon researching what the bible says about anger and saw that God has some blunt and unflattering things to say about it, I felt led to share some of it with you anyway. His intent is not to hurt you but to show you the ugliness of it so that you can trust Him and do something about it. Here are just two: “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.” (Ecclesiastes 7:9) and “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city.” (Proverbs 16:32) Ouch! According to God, therefore, we are fools and have a weak character when we let anger get the better of us .
Another sad feature about the anger issue, and many other character flaws, is that those who have it will just accept it, assuming they will never change. Not so! That can’t be true, not if the bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we “can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength.” Whatever the issue or character weakness, many have broken free because they believed God’s truth over the devil’s lies. They learned firsthand what Jesus meant when he said: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) You do the same today! You don’t have to carry your character issue all the way to the grave. Bring it to God; lay it before Him. Remember that Jesus Himself said: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
God’s promise for today: (2 Corinthians 10:4) “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
